


needles and mercy

by SkyeDragonDraws



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, assisted suicide tw, hello yes it’s exactly what you think it is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:00:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24187024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkyeDragonDraws/pseuds/SkyeDragonDraws
Summary: Hornet finds a vessel. She does what she must. It is a mercy.
Relationships: Hornet & Greenpath Vessel
Comments: 1
Kudos: 72





	needles and mercy

Hornet has been following the trail for a short while. It is easy to track - void splattered on the mossy floor, dripping off leaves and withering the weaker plants.

The tight tunnel widens into a larger cavern, dotted with carved stones and filled to the brim with plants. Small glowflies dot the air, giving the room an ambient sort of light.

Under all the green, she spots it. Stark white paired a black too dark to be a shadow.

She should be quick. Find the body, dispose of it.

Still, her hands shake as she pulls aside branches. This little one had burrowed deep into the foliage. Was it hiding? From her footsteps as she trailed it across the kingdom, or perhaps from _Her_?

This vessel is tiny. Smaller than she remembers, hunched over a nail that’s been driven through its chest. It takes her a moment to see the nail - its cloak is far too large for it, and the edges are tattered and torn from being dragged on the ground behind it.

The small vessel raises its mask to look at her. Its blank eyes bore into her soul and with no small amount of horror, Hornet realizes: despite the nail through its chest that pins it to the stone behind it, _this vessel is still alive_.

Orange flickers in its blank sockets and it struggles, briefly, before the pain wins out against Her influence and it slumps.

Hornet ignores the trembling of her hands as she draws her needle. Carefully, she approaches the vessel, and pins one of its shoulders flat to the rock before resting the edge of her needle against its throat.

She takes a breath. This is a mercy, even if she could somehow bind it and care for it long enough for its soft shell to pull itself back together, it is still so firmly in Her grasp. This is a _mercy_.

It doesn’t feel like one.

The little vessel grips her wrist with one small hand, and lays another on the flat of her blade. Its hands have yet to develop fingers - only a thumb and a long, flexible palm. They resemble mittens, really.

This one is the youngest yet.

Her hands are shaking nearly as badly as its.

It rests its cheek on her needle, pressing the edge of her blade into the soft chitin of its neck until she sees void evaporating into the air.

A soft, breathy whisper brushes her mind.

**please…**

Hornet _slices_.

The vessel is dead. It was a mercy.

She still feels _stained_.

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this fic, you should check out this much longer, far better one! Also - just to clear it up - this idea has been sitting in my gdocs for a while, so I wasn’t inspired by this fic, but it’s certainly one of the reasons I’m posting such a short drabble. Drop them a kudos and a comment while you’re at it, it’s such a lovely bit of writing: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23914588


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